Dawn of the New Soldier
by NobodysChick
Summary: Sequel to Complicated Vows: This Is War In the aftermath of the Raptor, and her romance with Bee growing, Danielle must face new challenges and real fears. Just as she starts to adapt, a giant surprise is fitted to her, turning her into a better alley and more capable soldier in the Autobot team. But this new technology isn't perfect, and she unknowingly becomes a grave threat.


Everything was running smoothly and going as planned. The Autobots had returned to their base and begun their own debriefing and repairing of damage caused by the battle. Optimus busied his unit with repairs and mild investigation works while he personally attended to his fallen comrade and old friend, Ratchet.

By the looks of the grisly scene, it was apparent that the medical Bot had never known the attack was coming. Shot in the back, a dirty and dishonorable tactic, Ratchet's spark chamber had essentially disintegrated in the heat from the blast, before the sulfur could even touch it. Now, after nearly twenty-four hours, Ratchet's chest was hardly recognizable, and the joints connecting his limbs had disconnected, releasing his arms and a leg.

Shaking his head, spark impossibly heavy with grief, Optimus carefully removed the disintegrating remains of his old friend. While it was not Cybertronian custom to have a burial or ceremony, Optimus knew the humans would want to say goodbye to their comrade.

The medical Bot's remains were swept into large bins and pans. Optimus could not help but to sigh at the thought that such a great hero, the savior of many lives, both human and not, was left as nothing more than a pile of sediment and scrap metal.

Lennox sat in his west wing "office" doing work, recapping a report on the unexpected mission to the Autobot base. Everything was quiet, seeming as if life had fallen back to the normal routine at the NEST base.

All of a sudden, the biological threat alarms began to blare throughout the north wing. Sirens across the base announced immediate lock down and quarantine of all buildings, red and white lights flashing as well.

Soldiers in the north wing fled the main hangar, where the origin of the attack was based. Many ran out into the open area outside of the buildings, others ducked into quarantine rooms and put on haz-mat suits. Gas masks were passed out in bulk to those not in the north wing.

Major Lennox was one of the first to have a gas mask on. Now, he was helping pass out more to the remaining units that still needed the life saving protection. Even though he was unaware of the threat, others knew all too well what was going on.

First, there was the explosion. A thick white smoke oozed through every crack and into every permeable surface. The reek of sulfur quickly spread throughout most of building, ending up permeating even the vacuum-sealed main computer data base rooms. With no idea what had happened other than an explosion then a powdery cloud, the NEST base went on high alert.

Once the north wing of the base was quarantined, all soldiers, no matter where they had been stationed, were hosed down and inspected by the base's doctors and nurses.

It wasn't until several days after the emergency that investigations could be started. Biological weapons specialists and bomb squads were suited up and sent into the north wing to search out the cause of the explosion and powder.

Do to the nature of the biological threat, the evident smell of sulfur that still clung to the walls and every surface, the E4 hangar was the first place inspected; this was where the Raptor's body was being stored.

When the team opened the door to the hangar, a cloud of thick smoke rushed out through it. The cloud left a fine white dust on the masks and suits of the soldiers, forcing them to wipe their masks before moving forward. Upon entering, visibility was low. Since most of the team had never been in the hangar before, they ran into things, like desks, cabinets, shelves and other furniture lining the walls, as the team spread out from the door.

A soldier flipped the switches to turn on the overhead lighting but, instead of light bursting forth and illuminating the hangar, several loud pops erupted from the empty light sockets as the electricity zapped and arced against what little wiring remained.

Another switch was thrown to open the shutters that covered large high windows. Grating noise echoed off the walls before the window panels burst into clouds of dust that slowly floated towards the floor.

The windows allowed the sunlight to filter into the room, igniting the smoke that hung in the air from ceiling to floor. The hangar was illuminated, the thick white cloud inside glowing from above and casting an eerie setting. Carefully trudging forward towards the center of the place, the soldiers discovered piles of gray dust on the floor.

One man whispered to another "I used to sit there and do work…" pointing to a disheveled dust pile with papers and remains of pens and other desk supplies mixed into it. "This stuff is eating the metal, anything metal. It doesn't make sense; it's like its some kind of super rust or something."

His listener only nodded, mulling over the situation and what his partner had said. A realization dawned on him.

"Hey, if this cloud is disintegrating metal into dust… Do you think that it could've… well… Wasn't that blue Decepticon being stored in here? He was made entirely of metal, wasn't he?"

The commanding officer of the team overheard this conversation and knew instantly that they were on to something. He rushed cautiously towards the body of the blue bot, only to find nothing but scorch marks on the floor, shadowing a thick layer of ash and dust.

The body was gone.

News of the missing Cybertronian traveled quickly, reaching Major Lennox within the hour of the discovery. He couldn't fathom a substance that could eat through an entire bot like that, especially not in such a short amount of time. He did not have to wonder long, however, for the bio-weapon investigation team was quick to bring their final report to him.

Upon research of the E4 hangar's previous room set up, as far as what had been placed where, blueprints showed that the bot's body had been in the center of the floor. Around him had been various canister, chambers, cartridges and charges that still remained after the firefight at the Autobot base. They were set out on tables and such to be studied.

What the report concluded to was as follows:

The chambers and charges that had been removed from the sulfur cannons were nowhere to be found, the only trace of their ever existing being white radial marks underneath where they had sat. The investigation concluded the detonations to have been a failsafe against the researching of Decepticon technology, and/or a kind of weapon in hopes that the body had remained on the Autobot base.

The powder and cloud were determined to be sulfuric acid, the very same type that had destroyed the ATV's and driven back the NEST team in the fight. Furthermore, any metal item that had been in the room had disintegrated.

Danielle had been sitting in the hospital bed for several days, even through the biological weapon scare a few days ago. She, along with the handful of other patients in the medical wing, had been relocated to a room that was tightly sealed with a high-tech ventilation system. Now that the threat had passed, she'd been returned to her original room.

Even though it had only been two days since the final battle that ended Raptors life, Danielle's wounds were healing remarkably quickly. The nurses had deemed her well-enough to be allowed to walk up and down the corridor once a day, just enough to keep her muscles from becoming too weak from bed rest.

For the first few time that she walks, a nurse walked by her side, keeping her steady and keeping her pleasant company. Eventually, she was told, she would be allowed to walk farther and longer, and soon, she would be allowed to walk on her own.

Everyday, as she walked down the corridor, IV drip stand rolling on her one side, the friendly nurse walking and talking on her other, Danielle would come across the only door in the hall that lead outside. In the middle of its upper portion, a window sat, revealing the desert that surrounded the base. Danielle wanted so badly to go outside, to feel the bright sun on her skin kissing her arms and caressing her cheeks with its warmth.

Today, as she walked once more with the nurse, those thoughts struck her hard. The bright yellow sun; it was yellow. The sun's kisses and caresses: a loving affection. The warmth, like the close body of loving man. All she could think about now was Bumblebee. The last time she saw him, he was standing over her as she lay dying, her heart failing her. He had cried, or so she thought; the memories of that part of the day were dark and she doubted that some of them were even real. She especially doubted the ones of him falling to his knees, weak and frail beside her bed.

Since that day, she had not seen Bee. There had been no word of him, even when she asked about him. She had brought up his name when Major Lennox had briefly visited her last night. He skated around the subject uneasily before quickly guiding the conversation to her health, again.

Tortured by the thoughts in her head, Danielle forgets to take part in the conversation she had been having with the nurse that walked with her. Coming back to reality, prodded by a light pinch on her arm from the concerned nurse, Danielle tries to shake off her queasiness and explain that she just isn't feeling well today. Gaining the nurses permission to return to her own room and rest for the remainder of the day, the helper hugs her before walking down the rest of the hall back to her desk.

Hanging her head, Danielle forlornly shuffles slowly back towards her room. Just before reaching it, she spots the exit door that leads outside. She walks up to it and stands on her tip-toes to get the best view she can through the small window.

The sun shone brightly down onto the orange desert hills, washing all color from the sky except for the gray of the few wispy clouds that floated overhead. She wanted so badly to breathe fresh air again. Even though she had only been hospitalized for a very few days, she was feeling cramped and shut it.

Curious, she examined the door and the sign that was screwed to it; "Do Not Block Exit" it read.

_Well, if I went outside, it wouldn't really be breaking any rules. It doesn't say "_Do not open" she thought, mentally justifying the idea of taking a quick step outside. _I've been through a lot lately; a little sunshine or some angry nurses won't kill me._

Scanning the hallway quickly for any curious eyes, and finding none, Danielle took a deep breath and pushed the door open.

She half expected the screech of an alarm to give her away, but the only sound that rose was that of the light wind drifting across the desert and against the building.

Where she stood, she was on a small rectangle of raised concrete. In the two corners that did not connect with the building were two wooden posts supporting an overhead roof, shadowing just a little more ground than the concrete step covered. Sand stretched all around her, as far she could see from where she stood. Small dry bushes hunkered in the sun. About 100 feet in front of her there was a fence. It ran endlessly to either side of her, reaching well past the end of the base to her right. On the other side of the fence, blacktop road shimmered in the high afternoon sun. Invisible fire wavered above it, dancing and shimmering like a hellish vertical river.

As she stood there, an engine hummed off in the distance to her left. It drew closer to her by the second, the noise growing as it flew over the road. A dusty tail rose up in the distance, following a dark vehicle. Eventually, it reached where she was; it was a simple olive-drab military jeep, probably carrying a soldier back to base from some unknown origin.

A small part of Danielle had hoped that the vehicle would have been one of the Autobots, even Ironhide she would have enjoyed seeing. She felt so alone and disconnected from her friends. But she knew she would see them again sooner or later. Or at least she hoped so.

The jeep passed her quickly and disappeared in the shimmering heat above the blacktop, obscured into nothing but a dust cloud. The still-weak Danielle finally became acutely aware of just how hot it was outside, even in the shade of the overhead cover. Wiping the sweat from her brow, she took one final deep breath, savoring the humid air that filled her nose and lungs with the sandy desert smell. Mostly satisfied for now, she turned and quietly slunk back into the corridor. No nurses saw or heard her, thankfully, and she crept back to her room unnoticed.

For the rest of the evening, Danielle was left alone. Alone with her thoughts and memories; no matter how hard she tried, though, she could not remember the slightest clue as to what may have happened to her guardian.

She laid down in the hospital bed and turned out the overhead wall fluorescent. Falling back against the pillow, she tried desperately to recreate the scene of her last moments with him.

After several minutes of unsuccessful thinking, her mind eventually just wandered to "what if" situations. Most, if not all of them, ended with Bumblebee leaning down over the gurney rails and pressing his lips against hers. As she drifted off to sleep, all she could think about was his sweet face and strong arms, his warm body and adorable smile. Her lips tingled slightly, longing for his, but only finding the sterile hospital room air dryly kissing back instead.

Back at the Autobot base, Optimus had asked for a meeting with NEST's top engineers and scientists, as well as Danielle's assigned doctor. They had complied and now sat with the great Prime leader in his quarters. Optimus spoke first.

"I know that there is much going on at your headquarters, but for now it is simply clean up, as it is here. I called for this meeting because I have a request to make of all of you; a request for a large project that must start immediately. First, tell me this." He paused to study the humans that listened so curiously and intently for his question.

"How much do you know about building autonomous robotic organisms?"


End file.
